I work a little bit like a sculptor. When I start, my first idea for a building is with the material. I believe architecture is about that. It’s not about paper, it’s not about forms. It’s about space and material.
My buildings should have an emotional core – a space which, in itself, has an emotional nice feeling.
I think space, architectural space, is my thing. It’s not about facade, elevation, making image, making money. My passion is creating space.
In a society that celebrates the inessential, architecture can put up a resistance, counteract the waste of forms and meanings and speak its own language.
I think the chance of finding beauty is higher if you don’t work on it directly. Beauty in architecture is driven by practicality. This is what you learn from studying the old townscapes of the Swiss farmers.
Architecture is exposed to life. If its body is sensitive enough, it can assume a quality that bears witness to past life.
There is still a real need for good quality architecture, not paper architecture, but the real stuff.
Architecture has its place in the concrete world. This is where it exists. This is where it makes its statement.
I design for the use of a building and the place and for the people who use it… the reputation for arrogance comes because when work is offered to me, I look whether I can find a genuine interest in quality.
When I concentrate on a specific site or place for which I am going to design a building, I try to plumb its depths, its form, its history and its sensuous qualities.
My relationship to plants becomes closer and closer. They make me quiet I like to be in their company.